| 1991 World Table Tennis Championships | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Events | |||
| Singles | men | women | |
| Doubles | men | women | mixed |
| Team | men | women | |
The1991World Table Tennis Championships were held inChiba from April 24 to May 6, 1991.[1]
North Korea and South Korea fielded a unified team under the name Korea (コリア[2][3]Koria), the first of allUnified Korean sporting teams. The women's Korean team captured the gold medal by topping China, winners of eight consecutive titles since 1975, 3–2 in the final.
Prior to the competition,North andSouth Korea discussed the possibility of the first unifiedfootball and table tennis teams sinceKorea's division. In February 1991, they agreed to the creation of the unified table tennis team to compete at the 1991 World Table Tennis Championships.[4] According toChang Ung,International Olympic Committee member from North Korea, the decision took 22 rounds of talks between the Koreas and five months.[5]
The team used "Korea" (Koreanhangul:코리아,McCune–Reischauer:K'oria,Revised Romanization:Koria,Japanese:コリアKoria) as thecountry name avoidingHanguk (한국) orChosŏn (조선). It also used theKorean Unification Flag as thenational flag andArirang as thenational anthem.[6] Upon defeating the supposedly "unbeatable" Chinese team, the women's team caused a big sensation in Korea.
ASouth Korean movieKorea (코리아) ("As one") was released on May 3, 2012, and describes the story of the women's team.Hyun Jung-Hwa was portrayed byHa Ji-won andLi Bun-Hui byBae Doona.[4][7]
